More storyboarding links

Thanks to Chris Lutes for these. Some inspiring and striking visuals here and insights into composition and storytelling.
http://roseandisabel.blogspot.com
http://talesofcollosus.blogspot.com
http://sevencamels.blogspot.com
http://www.animationarchive.org
The links on these sites are highly recommended.

JH

Pro Movie Storyboard samples!

Thanks for Samson for this link:
http://www.tedbstudio.com/home.html

Here's another one about a guy's digital storyboard art, which on some jobs echoes both photos and classic design-marker technique. This work is for the advertising industry.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimmy57/methods.html

JH

Storyboarding Glossary:

(line art by JH, color by K. Garletts, Express Visuals)

We're getting down to the end, you guys. The last major topic in the book is storyboarding. I want to give you an early start on the terminology, because there is a lot of it. Much of it comes from the world of film, and is helpful in talking about comics as well as storyboarding.

I'll put it flatly: You need to understand the methods and terminology of storyboarding to have career mobility in animation. Relatively few people are so good at their specialty (e.g., character design, backgrounds) that they can work all year in just that area. It pays to be a generalist, especially if you want to be a director. So: you need to know and use these terms.

So, without further finger-waggling, the first of three installments of the storyboarding glossary:

ANIMATES (as in "BG animates")-- v., Used to denote when an element that one might expect to be fixed art, like background, moves in way that requires it to be redrawn (several times for each second of screen time).

ANTIC = Anticipation-- In animation, the action just before the main action, e.g., the backswing of a golf swing or a punch. Or a person might hunch down in their seat before jumping up in alarm.

BG = Background

BG Pans-- In animation, this term is used when a moving object, such as a car, retains a relatively fixed location in the frame, while the background moves past behind it. Familiar to all viewers of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, whose BGs would pan through cyclically over and over in the same shot.

CRANE SHOT-- A shot in which the camera moves freely over the subject in any direction by virtue of being positioned on a crane. Crane shots are often used at the end of movies to pull up and away from the subject, in order to put him in context in the larger world.

CU = Closeup-- A shot framed around the subject's head. See the text, p.210, for an example.

DOLLY SHOT-- A shot during which the camera rolls, such a tracking shot.

DS = Downshot-- Shot in which the camera is aimed down toward the subject (compare Upshot).

ECU = Extreme Closeup-- A shot so tightly framed it shows less than the full head. Shots that show tight closeups of small important objects are also ECUs.

EST SHOT = Establishing shot-- A WIDE SHOT (see) used to give an overview of setting and situation.

EXT = Exterior Shot-- (compare INT)

FIFO = Fade In, Fade out-- Also known as a lap dissolve, connotes time passing.

FOFI = Fade Out, Fade In-- A transition that leaves the screen black briefly, connoting more time passing.

FG = Foreground

HOOK UP-- In animation, when an action begun in one shot is continued from the same instant in the following shot. Action must match.

INT = Interior shot (compare EXT)

INTO SC = Into Scene-- Used when a character or object moves into the frame under its own power, i.e., not due only to camera movement, after the shot has begun.

JH

Off topic 2: The Reckoning with Moving Folds

JH

Off Topic: Folds in action

Everything looks better in pixels than print...

Here are these, less brutally cropped than in my recent handout for ILL 625.

JH

How does it look from your standpoint?

Well, it's been a while. I apologize for that.
You may have heard me say that everything is "situational" in perspective. That's my weak way of expressing that, if you move where you're standing--your station point--a short distance in any direction, your view of the world changes. A lot, sometimes. If, before you moved, you were halfway done drawing what lay in front of you, after you moved, you would have to either return to your original station point or redo. The way the world looks is dependent on where you stand.

One example I used of this effect was the challenges facing the matte painter in pre-digital Hollywood. If he or she wasn't precise about matching the horizon and vanishing points of the painting to the film footage, the result would risk not fooling the eye. Above is an example from The Art of The Empire Strikes Back, painted by Ralph McQuarrie himself. You can see, in the first jpeg, the painting alone. The second shows a frame of composited footage. Comparing, you can see that the lower part of the Millennium Falcon was actually a physical set--with live steam, no less. Only the upper part was painted. Talk about an exact match.

How about this European sidewalk artist, Julian Beever? This is a better demo, I think, of the primacy of station point. Note that, seen from the wrong end, Beever's work is wildly distorted, almost unidentifiable.
But seen from the planned-for station point, the art creates a dizzying illusion. How does he know how to distort the art so that it looks right from the station point? That question imagines the cart before the horse. It's not about abstruse calculations. The station point is wherever he set up his digital projector, evidently at about waist level, the night before. Projecting a sketch of the piece, he presumably creates a simplified, paint-by-numbers outline of it, on the sidewalk, under cover of night. Or so I assume. Call me a cynic.

JH

Solving the Parrot

Here's how to plot the shadows on the parrot. I color-coded the lines by class.

There's a certain amount of ambiguity here, since we're dealing with a non-rectilinear form, in the parrot. In particular, the plan of the parrot (on the floor in light blue) is approximate. But there is no doubt that the shadow of the bird's head ends up on the wall.

(Note that the bird's right shoulder casts its shadow into the head shadow, while the left shoulder's shadow is cast to the floor!)

As you can see, the other landmarks on the bird that I used to plot his shadow are the top of his head and the end of his tail. The shoulders were useful in establishing the width of the shadow.

Both the floor part and the wall part of the shadow basically follow, and lengthen along, their respective d-lines (magenta and orange).

JH

AAAAGHHH! Me dumb.

I just noticed:
I accidentally left part of the shadow off of the solution jpeg for the Sunlight scene!! I mapped the shadows of G,H,J,K but then didn't color them in!! Here it is, corrected. I'll go back and replace the incorrect version in the earlier post. Soon I can pretend this never happened... Sorry if you fell prey to the old one.
JH

By request!

Believe it or not, a few you have asked for a return bout with today's troublesome shadow plotting exercises. Here are jpegs of the uncompleted exercises and their solutions (Click on them for the full-size versions, suitable for printing). Blogger doesn't seem to want to place them in the order I uploaded them, so here they are, in no order.

JH

STORYBOARDING GLOSSARY

Color by K. Garletts

Here's the list of storyboarding terms, finally. Jeez, there are a lot! Even so, it couldn't hurt to browse over to the earlier "GLOSSARY" page from June just to make sure you'll know our basic working terminology, should any come up on the final. Good luck, y'all.

JH

ANIMATES (as in "BG animates")-- v., Used to denote when an element that one might expect to be fixed art, like background, moves in way that requires it to be redrawn (several times for each second of screen time).

ANTIC = Anticipation-- In animation, the action just before the main action, e.g., the backswing of a golf swing or a punch. Or a person might hunch down in their seat before jumping up in alarm.

BG = Background

BG Pans-- In animation, this term is used when a moving object, such as a car, retains a relatively fixed location in the frame, while the background moves past behind it. Familiar to all viewers of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, whose BGs would pan through cyclically over and over in the same shot.

CRANE SHOT-- A shot in which the camera moves freely over the subject in any direction by virtue of being positioned on a crane. Crane shots are often used at the end of movies to pull up and away from the subject, in order to put him in context in the larger world.

CU = Closeup-- A shot framed around the subject's head. See the text, p.210, for an example.

DOLLY SHOT-- A shot during which the camera rolls, such a tracking shot.

DS = Downshot-- Shot in which the camera is aimed down toward the subject (compare Upshot).

ECU = Extreme Closeup-- A shot so tightly framed it shows less than the full head. Shots that show tight closeups of small important objects are also ECUs.

EST SHOT = Establishing shot-- A WIDE SHOT (see) used to give an overview of setting and situation.

EXT = Exterior Shot-- (compare INT)

FIFO = Fade In, Fade out-- Also known as a lap dissolve, connotes time passing.

FOFI = Fade Out, Fade In-- A transition that leaves the screen black briefly, connoting more time passing.

FG = Foreground

HOOK UP-- In animation, when an action begun in one shot is continued from the same instant in the following shot. Action must match.

INT = Interior shot (compare EXT)

INTO SC = Into Scene-- Used when a character or object moves into the frame under its own power, i.e., not due only to camera movement, after the shot has begun.

Med Shot = Medium Shot = Mid Shot-- a shot that includes the upper half of the subject's body. See text, p. 210, for an example.

OC = Off-Camera-- Not shown in a shot (but perhaps nearby).

OS = Out of scene = Offscreen-- OS is used when a character or object moves out of the frame after the shot has begun, under it own power, i.e., not solely due to camera moves.

OTS = Over the shoulder-- A shot in which a subject who is facing us is shown using the back of the head and the shoulder of another subject in the extreme foreground as a framing device.

PAN, ~RIGHT, ~LEFT, ~UP, ~DOWN -- v., In animation, all camera moves other than zooms are known as pans. In filmmaking, only pivoting horizontally is considered a pan (compare Dolly, Push, Tilt).

POV = Point of View -- showing a scene from a character's POV is also known as subjective camera.

PUSH IN, ~OUT; TRUCK IN, ~OUT-- v., In filmmaking, camera motion toward and away from the subject, by a camera set on wheels and sometimes even tracks. In 2D animation only, the term is replaced by Zoom.

TILT UP, ~DOWN-- v., In filmmaking, when the camera tips up or down, often to follow the subject's motion. In animation, it's called a pan up or a pan down.

SC = Scene -- In animation, one shot: the footage between two edits.
In other filmmaking, a contiguous series of shots, usually linked by setting (e.g., the bank robbery scene, the funeral scene.)

TILT UP, ~DOWN-- v., In filmmaking, when the camera tips up or down, often to follow the subject's motion. In animation, it's called a pan up or a pan down.

TRACKING SHOT-- A dolly shot in which the rolling camera is focused on a moving subject.

US = Upshot-- Shot in which the camera is aimed up at the subject.

VO = Voiceover-- Words spoken by a character who doesn't speak them live on screen. Often it is narration.

WIDE SHOT -- nearly the same as Long Shot and Establishing shot -- a framing loose enough to accommodate multiple figures, as well as a lot of scenery.

ZOOM-- Shifting from wide angle to telephoto lenses, or vice versa, as the shot continues. In 2D animation, most camera motion toward and away from the subject is accomplished this way and the terms Push or Dolly are not used.

Storyboard examples

These are all by me, but have at least some of the confident economy I was urging you all toward.
JH

Preach, Practice

So, earlier this week I got an job for a major New York City weekly, thanks to a referral from inker Andrew Pepoy. The woman told me it should be a bar scene, 3:45 in the morning, last call, when people have hooked up or haven't. I had to do a half page, preferably color, in under two days, during which time I had to prepare for and teach this class. I spent quite a while pulling pix off the web. Nervously I did a bunch of so-so thumbnails and picked six of those that looked promising and made some sketches of those. This all took over two hours (more than I'd expected and promised).

But the woman from the magazine was pleased to have so many ideas to choose from. She said they "loved" one sketch that touched on several ideas from the article.

I ruled out the perspective tightly enough that I could ink it all freehand, with a brush. Knowing the scene was to be dark helped me to be free with it; my missteps would be less visible. Checking the figures vis-a-vis the perspective, I found the barmaid was too high and moved her down in Photoshop. I colored it up, trying not to make it too digital or airbrushy-looking. I turned it in a few hours early early because I had to teach you guys. I had no idea if it was bad or good because I'd been so close to it for a day. They approved it with no changes and gave me a higher rate than they'd offered.

I know in the future, if I get more of this type of work, I'll look on this piece with embarrassment. Tomer Hanuka I ain't, alas. But as a demonstration of how thumbnailing and perspective can avert disaster in a professional working context, I couldn't asked for a better example with which to torture you guys.

JH

GLOSSARY

Hi, y'all. I'll keep this updated.

JH

apparent vs. real-- adjs., Apparent is the way objects look in perspective drawings, photos and to our eyes in reality. Real is the way they actually are. For example, While apparently larger and lower in a photo, the near boat is of course really level with the far boat and the same size.

converge-- v., to come together at a point, as in Projection lines converge on a vanishing point.

to draw through-- v., to lay out (lightly and simply sketch) the structure of an object as if the major forms were transparent. Drawing through respects the maxim that, "Even if you can't see it, it shows"

diminution-- n., the change of scale in a perspective drawing that make more distant objects relatively smaller.

elevation-- n., a drawing of the side view of a building or part of a building, etc. The horizontal dimension is collapsed into 2D and the scale is consistent. (compare plan)

elevation of light-- n., in drawing, the point on a wall that represents the position of a nearby light source projected horizontally the shortest possible distance to the wall. (This horizontal projecting will take place apparently on a diagonal in an isometric drawing or most perspective drawings.)

inclined plane-- n., a surface such as a ramp or roof that -- because it is not horizontal -- uses vanishing point(s) above or below the horizon.

plan-- n., a drawing of the top view of a building or part of a building, etc., as in floor plan. The vertical dimension is collapsed into 2D and the scale is consistent. (compare elevation)

plan of light-- n., in drawing, the point on a floor that represents the position of an elevated light source projected vertically downward. Used for reckoning the direction of light, which radiates from this point.

projection lines-- n., lightly ruled lines that run toward a vanishing point. They extend or continue the lines that make up a rectilinear object, such as a building ( rather than merely connecting to them). Projection lines are used both to construct drawings of objects in perspective and to check such drawings. They are not to appear in the final drawing, as a rule. I recommend only drawing the ones you need to, only as far as you need to, and using blue pencil.

Rectilinear-- adj., made of straight lines and right angles

Storyboarding terms and abbreviations:

ANIMATES (as in "BG animates")-- v., Used to denote when an element that one might expect to be fixed art, like background, moves in way that requires it to be redrawn (several times for each second of screen time).
ANTIC = Anticipation-- In animation, the action before the main action, the backswing for example. Or a person might hunch down in their seat before jumping up in alarm.
BG = Background
BG Pans-- In animation, this term is used when a moving object, such as a car, retains a relatively fixed location in the frame, while the background moves past behind it. Familiar to all viewers of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, whose BGs would pan through cyclically over and over in the same shot.
CRANE SHOT-- A shot in which the camera moves freely over the subject in any direction by virtue of being positioned on a crane. Crane shots are often used at the end of movies to pull up and away from the subject, in order to put him in context in the larger world.
CU = Closeup-- A shot framed around the subject's head. See the text, p.210, for an example.
DOLLY SHOT-- A shot is which the camera rolls, such a tracking shot.
DS = Downshot-- Shot in which the camera is aimed down toward the subject (compare Upshot).
ECU = Extreme Closeup-- A shot so tightly framed it shows less than the full head. Shots that show tight closeups of small important objects are also ECUs.
FG = Foreground
HOOK UP-- In animation, when an action begun in one shot is continued from the same instant in the following shot. Action must match.
EXT = Exterior Shot (compare INT)
INT = Interior shot (compare EXT)
INTO SCENE-- In animation, used when a character or object moves into the frame under its own power after the shot has begun.
Med Shot = Medium Shot = Mid Shot-- a shot that includes the upper half of the subject's body. See text, p. 210, for an example.
OC = Off -Camera-- Not shown in a shot (but perhaps nearby)
OS = Out of scene = Offscreen-- In animation, OS is used when a character or object moves out of the frame after the shot has begun, under it own power, i.e., not solely due to camera panning.
PAN, ~RIGHT, ~LEFT, ~UP, ~DOWN -- v., In animation, all camera moves other than zooms are known as pans. In filmmaking, only pivoting horizontally is considered a pan (compare Dolly, Push, Tilt, Truck).
OTS = Over the shoulder-- A shot in which a subject who is facing us is shown using the back of the head and the shoulder of another subject in the extreme foreground as a framing device.
POV = Point of View -- showing a scene from a character's POV is also known as subjective camera.
PUSH IN, ~OUT; TRUCK IN, ~OUT-- v., In filmmaking, camera motion toward and away from the subject, respectively, by camera set on wheels and sometimes even tracks. In 2D animation only, the term is replaced by Zoom.
TILT UP, ~DOWN-- v., In filmmaking, when the camera tips up or down, often to follow the subject's motion. In animation, it's called a pan up or a pan down.
Wide Shot -- nearly the same as Long Shot and Establishing shot -- a framing loose enough to accommodate multiple figures, as well as a lot of scenery.
SC = Scene -- In animation, one shot: the footage between two edits.
In other filmmaking, a contiguous series of shots, usually linked by setting (e.g., the bank robbery scene, the funeral scene.)
TILT UP, ~DOWN-- v., In filmmaking, when the camera tips up or down, often to follow the subject's motion. In animation, it's called a pan up or a pan down.
A dolly shot in which the rolling camera is focued on a moving subject.
US = Upshot-- Shot in which the camera is aimed up at the subject.
VO = Voiceover-- Words spoken by a character who doesn't speak them live on screen. Often it is narration.
ZOOM-- Shifting from wide angle to telephoto lenses, or vice versa, as the shot continues. In animation most motion toward and away from the subject is accomplished this way and the terms Push or Dolly are not used.

So it begins

Hey, you all,
Here's a blog so we can have another channel of knowledge running into your sponge-like minds. I'll build up our glossary here, and keep it up to date. Let's start with that demo of digital art techniques for advertising I mentioned in class.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimmy57/methods.html
JH